Michael Johnson and Danyle Pearce confirmed to finish Fremantle Dockers career at end of 2018

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Fremantle will consider farewell games for Michael Johnson and Danyle Pearce later this season after coach Ross Lyon confirmed neither would be at the Dockers in 2019.

Johnson, 33, has played 239 games for the Dockers, putting him fifth on the club’s all time games played list behind Matthew Pavlich, David Mundy, Aaron Sandilands and Luke McPharlin.

He has played eight games this year. Pearce (32) has played 258 AFL games including 104 for the Dockers, but just three this year. Both men played their last AFL games this year in round 10 against North Melbourne.

“I think it is pretty obvious they are going to exit,” Lyon said after watching Nathan Fyfe and Aaron Sandilands take training at Cockburn this morning.

“We did it (a farewell match) for Matthew Pavlich. They have been incredibly good servants for the club. Michael Johnson you could argue is our greatest Aboriginal player.”

Lyon said farewell matches would probably be considered later in the season. There was a chance Johnson would earn his spot in the team for Sunday’s match against Port Adelaide on form after being Peel’s best in a disappointing effort against Subiaco last Friday.

“It is something we will get to. There is plenty of footy to be played yet. It is a third of the season so we can’t be distracted by that but as a caring football club that should be on our agenda,” Lyon said.

The Dockers have to make at least one change this week to their team after losing Andy Brayshaw to injury in last weekend’s loss to Melbourne in Darwin.

“I haven’t got to that yet. We are still just finishing our review and the line reviews will be today. We will assess and we will get the WAFL report,” Lyon said.

“It was very tough conditions up there against a quality team. We are disappointed. Our effort overall was pretty strong. I saw the hurt in the players’ eyes after the game. We had nine players under 25 games. There won’t be wholesale changes. We need to get back on the horse and go again,” he said.

Harley Bennell trained enthusiastically this morning and “is in the mix” for selection but more unlikely than likely, Lyon said.

“He is building up. He will be in the mix but I can’t give any guarantees,” Lyon said.

“Our availability is a bit limited. We have got a reasonable injury list as most clubs have this time of year but again, their (Peel’s) performance wasn’t great either. Clearly there will be one change.”